![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/foxing-nearer-my-god-cover_opt-1.png?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1\")
Three years after previous album The Dealer, Foxing is back and better than ever. Never a band to be easily classified into a definitive genre, the group even further distorts these boundaries in Nearer My God. This LP is uncharacteristically upbeat (almost manic) but does not sacrifice the band\u2019s penchant for raw intensity and poignant lyrics. It\u2019s still \u201cemo\u201d music\u2014but in an entirely different sense.<\/p>\n
Nearer My God is one of the few albums in existence that is consistently excellent all the way through. Each song has a distinct identity and plays with sound in its own way, leaving no room for monotony. As with any album, there are standout songs; even these are subject to change listen-to-listen. Most importantly, there are no bad songs on the album\u2014the spectrum of quality varies from \u2018great\u2019 to \u2018absolutely phenomenal,\u2019 but never strays lower.<\/p>\n
One song that does stand out, perhaps primarily due to its length, is \u201cFive Cups.\u201d On the new LP, this nine-minute track comes the closest to emulating Foxing\u2019s previous dark, subdued sound. The lyrically soul-wrenching tune features lines such as the repeatedly screamed, \u201cI want to drive with my eyes closed,\u201d and \u201cI won\u2019t wait to be saved.\u201d Though the words are far from the cleverest or most embedded with hidden meaning on the album, the visceral emotion is a punch directly to the rib cage.<\/p>\n
As one might expect from Foxing, the name of the album (and one of its tracks) is a wry joke in and of itself. It\u2019s not the first time\u2014and probably will not be the last\u2014that Foxing\u2019s music is laced with religious undertones. \u201cNearer My God to Thee\u201d is a popular Christian hymn that has become conflated with doom and despair throughout history. It is, for instance, said to be the song the band played as the Titanic sank.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Stereogum before the album\u2019s release, the members of Foxing discuss their own sense of doom and trepidation in creating Nearer My God. The album was a fantastically large musical endeavor following a seemingly never-ending streak of bad luck (including accidents and property theft). These occurred on top of the traditional obstacles of being band mates, such as members leaving or starting side-projects.<\/p>\n
To make Nearer My God a success, then, the band members had to give 110% effort. They threw their all into the creation of this LP, and the effort definitely shows. Victory is sweet for Foxing; and for the rest of us, the product of their blood and sweat is a powerful, groundbreaking album that will surely be trending for months to come.
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: Tiny Moving Parts, Modern Baseball, You Blew It!
\nRecommended Tracks: 1 (Grand Paradise), 2 (Slapstick), 4 (Gameshark), 5 (Nearer My God), 6 (Five Cups), 7 (Heartbeats), 11 (Don\u2019t Drown), 12 (Lambert)
\nDo Not Play: 3 (Lich Prince)
\nWritten by Jaya Chakka on 09\/05\/2018 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you were expecting Foxing’s new album to be dark and gloomy, think again. “Nearer My God” shows off experimentation in a brand new sound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20842,"featured_media":68838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235,181],"tags":[8157,7712,8158,3367],"class_list":["post-68837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-rock-rotation","tag-foxing","tag-jaya-chakka","tag-nearer-my-god","tag-rock-rotation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/foxing-nearer-my-god-cover_opt-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20842"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}